


The Journey from Padawans to Masters

by Cole0862



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:15:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24500056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cole0862/pseuds/Cole0862
Summary: Set in Prequel era, the main temple you'll see is a fair distance away from the one on Coruscant so it has its own Jedi Council - this is more of a sublet of the order.
Kudos: 4





	1. Training Sessions

**Author's Note:**

> My best friend inspired me to write a fic so here we are :) I'm still pretty new to writing so there might be a few things off here and there. Constructive criticism is welcome but please be nice :)

“OOF-”

The thud echoed through the training room. “Ow. Prick.” The young brown-haired boy grumbled flat on the floor. “Watch it, Cole. We’re still training for the next two hours” sneered his master, Valor - a lithe but very lean built man - extending a hand to help him up.

“Yaaay” Cole replied sarcastically, taking the hand up. “Not to over-step Master, but why do I have the basic practice stick and you have two batons?” Cole questioned lifting his lighter frame off the mat.

“Because you’re still learning the fundamentals young one, after you have more training then you get access to the specialised stuff like these” he said as he flourished one of the twin batons holding onto the side grip with the rest of the weapon being slightly longer than his arm.

Valor quickly dashed towards Cole, nearly catching him off guard. Luckily, Cole was figuring out how he attacked and just managed to block Valor’s swing. “Good. You’re learning.”

“Does that mean I get something fanc-SHIT” ~THUD~ Cole was interrupted by Valor hooking the handle of his free baton around his ankle and getting pushed to the floor. Again. Valor cocked his head to the side looking at Cole.

“Funny how I have two hands”

“Funny how you wouldn’t if that was an actual saber” Cole sniped from the ground.

“True, but it wasn’t. You may have one weapon, but the fight won’t always be fair, and you need to be adaptable to any situation. Now, again.”

“Even I gotta admit, you’re not going easy on him” a female voice chuckled. Another Jedi Master, a well-built Rutian Twi’lek walked in with her padawan, a slightly heavy-set human, trying to hide her smirk at Cole.

Whether she was laughing at Cole being knocked down or at how he sassed his Master was a mystery to him.

“Eh, they gotta learn somehow,” Valor shrugged, picking up the agitated Padawan. “You after the mat?”

“Nah, we’re gunna start on building up her shields”

“Gross”

“You realise not everything is about whacking it until it stops moving right?”

“Well, yeah but whacking things is more fun, we’ll get there eventually. Oh by the way, in case you haven’t met yet, Cole this is Master Prite”

“Nice to meet you Master” Cole greeted giving a slight bow.

“Nice to meet you, young Padawan” giving a nod back. “I like him already; he’s got better manners than you Val”

“Hey look… Ok, fair. Who do you have there you’re gunna submit to your torture-I mean training?”

“This is my Padawan, Amelia”

“Nice to meet you Master Valor” giving the same bow that was given to her Master.

“And you Padawan, I like her, she doesn’t bully me”

“Yet” Master Prite said with a smirk and a wink leading her Padawan to the other side of the training room.

“Right, now, where were we?” Valor turned to his Padawan, who was already mid-swing with an overhead strike. He quickly crouched down to give him the extra time needed to block the attack going for his head.

“You cheeky little! -“

“Gotta be aware of your surroundings Master, won’t always be a fair fight” Cole interrupted smugly, followed by kicking Valor down to the ground in his surprised state.

“Ok. I’ll admit, point to you. Even if it was a cheap shot” Valor retorted while getting up. “You’ll pay for that though.”

“Oh, I know, I just wanted to get you at least once today. You seemed to know her pretty well” nodding over to the Master walking away.

“Yeah, we go on a lot of missions together and we work really well with each other – in fact, so far no one else in the temple has beaten us two on two. So, you’ll be seeing her and her new Padawan fairly often” Valor stated while getting into his fighting stance, prepared to continue the sparring session.

“Maybe Amelia and I will take your title one day” Cole jabbed trying to get his Master to strike.

“Maybe one day, but not today” Valor dashed towards Cole a little faster than before, leading Cole to suspect using the force was suddenly allowed. Cole parried his first strike and dodged the second swing aimed at his neck, Valor threw a jab which Cole tried to deflect and disarm. The disarm didn’t go well for Cole, as he locked in his Master’s arm, Valor merely rolled over Cole flipping him over his shoulder.

“OW. Ok, THAT you need to teach me” Scrambling to his feet.

“You’re on the thinner side of life like me, if you try to overpower your opponent with brute force it leaves you open, we need to be more agile and use our mobility to our advantage.”

“Alright that’s fair, so be quicker and try to remember I’m not as big as the other guy?”

“You’re catching on, but it’s not so much about how big the other guy is, figure out what you can use to level out the field. You’re quick, like you showed me with that dodge you did a second ago, gotta learn to use momentum to add to your fighting until you get older and put on some more muscle which will help even more with flipping people over.”

Cole nodded listening carefully to his Master’s words – when he wasn’t throwing him to the ground, he was actually pretty insightful.

“Alright, let’s go.”

\---------------------------------------

“Master, shouldn’t we go somewhere quieter to meditate?” Amelia questioned hearing the clacking of the training weapons nearby and occasional thud of someone hitting the floor.

“The distractions will strengthen your mind by making you on tune out other influences while training like this. It will be a little difficult at first, but you’ll get the hang of it quick” Prite smiled joining her Padawan, sitting across from her.

“Now, close your eyes and let’s begin.”

Amelia did as her Master said and tried to block out the fighting on the sparring mat. Eventually, she could feel the subtle movements of the Force, flowing around and through her. She couldn’t help but smile at the state of Zen she achieved.

Suddenly, but not startling, she felt a gentle wave push towards her from the direction of her master.

“ _Told you, you’ll get the hang of it”_

She could hear her voice, but it wasn’t external. Master Prite was in her head. Amelia would have freaked out if she stopped thinking how _cool_ it was.

She grounded herself to stay in the state she tried so hard to get in the first place. Master Prite’s presence was warm, welcoming, in her mind’s eye she could almost see her hand extended out for Amelia to grab.

She tried to respond with her own Force, but just fell short. Give her a break, she was new at this.

“ _It’s ok, try again, come on you got this.”_

Amelia pushed out again, feeling the Force flowing around her, redirecting it through her body towards her Master. Back in the dream state she found herself in connecting with the Force, she saw a manifestation of her Prite, a light blue ethereal form waiting for her.

A vast expanse of darkness surrounded her, but it was also accompanied by what looked to be stars – a galaxy even, the multi-coloured ribbons flowed above her in blues, pinks and purples. She saw feint traces of the Force moving around her, strings and ribbons of all colours flowing ever so softly throughout the mysterious area she’d found herself in.

“ _Y’know, you’re pretty good at this, usually Padawans take 2-3 days to get here. Yet here you are on your second attempt? You’re giving me high hopes Padawan”_ her words of encouragement only pushed Amelia further, joining her Master’s side, starting their journey through the Force and Amelia’s mind.

“ _Thank you Master, I appreciate it… But like, no pressure or anything”_ Amelia laughed, trying to hide her anxiety.

_“No pressure at all actually, we train at your pace, if you get stuck on something, we’ll work it out. I’ll guide you where I can, that’s what I’m here for. Now, as for what we’re actually doing here…_

_You will come across some opponents or even some areas that will try to enter your mind as I did, but more aggressive as you can imagine. They will try to find your weaknesses and use them against you, we’re going to build up some shields to prevent that.”_

_“Ok, so we’re building up walls in my mind?”_

_“Essentially, but we also need to make an opening with a lock on it so you can open up to the more friendly Force users you encounter, such as myself, Valor, Cole and even the Temple Council.”_

_“Alright fair”_ Amelia pondered about the ways to do this, building up walls would be easy for anyone, and she was concerned about the openings until she pictured them like a one-way door.

She started building her foundations with the guidance of her Master and eventually built up the first wall.

“ _Not bad young one”_ Prite commented proudly. “ _Now…”_

Amelia’s manifestation was forcefully pushed into the wall she had made, slamming into it, fortunately not causing any ‘visible’ damage to it.

“ _Ow! Master!?”_

_“Sorry Padawan but physical isn’t the only kind of fighting you’ll have to know, the shields are important, but you’ll need to know how to fight back in the mindscape, even diving into the minds of your opponent.”_

Amelia was starting to piece together the ‘torture’ that Master Valor was on about before.

“ _Alright fair, but also not, know what I mean?”_

Prite chuckled “ _I do, but you need to learn somehow – not everything will be fair in a fight.”_

Amelia connected that there might be a reason Prite and Valor got on so well.

She pushed back at her Master, catching her off guard with how much she actually managed to push.

“ _Interesting…”_

Amelia used the opportunity to push again, but Prite simply redirected it around her and back at the student, adding more power to it. Amelia dodged out of the way while also deflecting it off to the other side. There was no way she was going to take all that on in her current state.

Prite rushed up and pushed again, forcing Amelia back into the wall again.

_“It’s easy to get lost in a fight like this, remember to remain calm and try to surprise your opponent.”_

Taking a second to compose herself again, Amelia thought about the ways she’s seen the Force being used, then realised pushing back wasn’t the only option.

“ _WooaAAH”_ Prite yelled, completely not expecting to be lifted up into the air.

“ _Ahahah, that’s better Padawan!”_

Before her excitement got the better of her, she threw her master away to the side. As Prite landed she rolled and begun the counterattack, throwing a large wave at her pupil.

Amelia was able to block some of it but got pushed back a few metres, giving Prite the opening she wanted. Wanting to give her a taste of her own medicine, lifted Amelia up into the air, spinning her around in an attempt to disorient her. Amelia closed her ‘eyes’ and focused, using the Force around her to get a sense for where everything actually was.

She locked onto her Master and broke the hold she had on her, splaying her limbs out, causing the Master to stagger. As Amelia fell, she raised her hands up and pushed down on Prite forcing her down.

Prite pushed back and by the time she was free from the extra gravity put on her, Amelia was already close enough to push her out of the mindscape. Amelia placed her hands on the shoulders of her Master and pushed with everything she had.

They both opened their eyes at the same time and breathed in sharply. Still sitting cross-legged from each other as they started.

“VERY impressive young one” Prite beamed

Amelia smiled warmly “Thank you Master” as she bowed her head down.

She also noticed the room was quiet, she looked over to the sparring mats to see Cole and Valor sitting down – initially thinking they were covered in sweat, but they were wearing different robes - drinking water quietly talking between themselves going over techniques.

“ _We were only meditating for 20 minutes, weren’t we? Surely they haven’t finished their training AND showered already?”_

Seeing the confused look on her face, Prite chimed in.

“Time moves differently in the mindscape my Padawan – Sometimes a short time will pass for us while in there, while the real world will see more time, sometimes we will experience a long journey in the mindscape while the rest of the world will have seen 10 minutes. It all comes down to practice to manage time within that realm.”

“That’s SO weird.”

“No one has been able to accurately measure time in the mindscape, but we can control it to an extent, as I said before – it just comes down to practice. Anyways I’m pretty sure it’s about lunch.”

The girls met up with the boys and started to head off to the cafeteria, the Masters along the way got called in to have a meeting with the Temple Council so the young Padawans continued on.

At first awkwardly talking about the different training sessions they had but quickly became aware of while their Master’s personalities may widely vary, they taught in similar fashions, commenting on how different yet similar they were.

\-------------------------

By the time they got to the cafeteria, they were already conversing like great friends talking about their similar interest in holochess, debating their favourite creatures to use and other hobbies they had.

They got separated while getting food, so they sat a table or two away from each other, enjoying their food and talking to the other padawans. Cole finished his food, as he went to put his tray away, he accidentally crashed into one of the other padawans. A well-built, older padawan who unfortunately was known to have a temper.

“OI! What’s your damage?!”

“Oh, sorry dude I did- “

“Nah I don’t wanna hear it you little _RUNT!”_ The older shaven-headed boy yelled – loud enough for the rest of the cafeteria who didn’t pay attention to the crash to suddenly tune in.

“ _Here we go”_ Cole thought. He could already tell this probably wasn’t gunna end well for anyone involved.

“You’re gunna pay for that.” The older boy growled.

“Just hit him Ryker!!” A voice in the crowd called out.

Ryker looked over to the direction of the voice, smirked and as he turned back to Cole, placing his foot forward to steady his swing stepped on one of the food trays causing him to fall flat on the ground.

“ _Well that definitely wasn’t there before”_ Cole thought amongst the laughter that erupted in the cafeteria. Cole looked around and saw Amelia lowering her hand with the most shit-eating grin he’d ever seen.

“ _Naww, thanks Amelia”_ He said to her within the mind.

“ _No worries, be careful though_ ” Amelia replied, concern in her ‘voice’.

_“Yeah, way ahead of ya.”_

Ryker got up fuming and did not hesitate to throw a wild swing aimed at Cole’s jaw.

But it didn’t connect.

His fist stopped a good 8 inches away from Cole’s face, struggling to get further.

This just pissed Ryker off even more, now using his Force in an attempt to push through.

He gained an inch. But did not budge further than that.

Ryker simply growled. Which Cole thought was kinda weird amidst still focusing on holding his attackers arm back. He also thought someone who’d been training longer than him should be stronger with the force than this.

He shot a quick glance at Amelia to see if she was helping him, but she just had her hands covering her mouth in shock at the events transpiring.

Cole looked back at Ryker who splayed open his free hand in an attempt to Force push Cole away.

Again, Cole did not budge, splaying his own left hand to counter it.

The crowd was starting to get rowdy, “oohs” starting to emit here and there.

“Quit messing around Ryker! Take him down!” The same voice from before called out.

Before Ryker could even think about reacting to that Cole drew his right hand back and pushed.

The larger boy flew 10 metres away before hitting the ground, much to the amusement of the on lookers.

“ _It’s not so much about how big the other guy is, figure out what you can use to level out the field”_ Cole imagined the voice of his Master saying.

Red-faced Ryker got up and extended his arm out to try to earn face.

“ENOUGH!” A booming voice called out, silencing the cafeteria.

 _“Shit…”_ The only word Cole could think of in that point in time.

One of the Temple Council members had heard the commotion and decided to investigate.

Long black hair tied up in a tail, goatee to match and a scar down his left temple, just barely missing his eye.

Everyone turned to look at the pitch white robes entering the room, sleeves slightly longer than his arms and coat just barely touching the ground. The nearby padawans that luckily weren’t as invested immediately bowed in respect. “Master Erikus” They all said in unison.

“ _Had to be the head council member didn’t it?”_ Cole groaned in his head.

His mere presence commanded the whole room. He scanned across the cafeteria piecing together what happened. An exasperated sigh escaped him when his eyes landed on Ryker, frozen in either fear or awe… Hand still raised.

Cole wasn’t really one to be in trouble often, but he knew it was very likely he would be punished.

Erikus quietly, slowly walked over to Ryker.

“Go find your master Padawan Ryker” it almost seemed that the taste of saying his named disgusted and exhausted him.

“Make sure you tell him what has happened, or I will.”

“Master Erikus, it wasn’t my fault- “

“Ryker. Leave.”

Frustrated, he bowed his head.

“Yes Master.”

And with that left in a hurry not looking anyone in the eyes.

Erikus’ eyes moved onto Cole.

“ _Ah shit.”_

_“Verily.”_

Erikus had already entered Cole’s mind while walking over to him.

“I’m sorry Master Erikus” Cole bowed trying to not make the same mistakes the bully did.

“Rise Padawan.”

As Cole looked up, he stood right before him. He’d heard stories of how powerful Erikus was, but this was something he’d never imagine. Cole was never one to start a fight but certainly never back down from one. Right now, he wanted to curl up and away from the Master before him.

Master Erikus placed a finger on Cole’s forehead, and Cole saw all the events of the last 5 minutes fly by in 5 seconds.

“Hmmm. I’ll let this one go Cole, as you were acting in self-defence and at least tried to diffuse the situation before it escalated. Please know, that I’m not usually this generous. Next time the warnings and punishments will begin. Am I clear?”

“Transparently Master, thank you, it won’t happen again” Cole bowed again in appreciation knowing how much worse it could have been.

“See to it that it does not. Everyone else; As you were” he turned and all the Padawans cleared the way all bowing in respect. He walked out without a sound while the students returned to their meals.

Cole sat back in his seat and caught his breath.

He didn’t even notice Amelia come up and sit across from him.

“You alright?”

“Absolutely not. He is _terrifying.”_

“Obviously. I was also talking about Ryker.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. He didn’t seem that strong in his abilities though, probably more of the grunt type.”

“Yeah I kinda gathered that. Wanna go find Masters Prite and Valor? Tell them what’s happened?”

“Probably should. Walk with me?” he shyly asked, still shaken by the whole ordeal.

“Of course.”

\------------------------------------

“So, you bump into this kid, who is bigger, older and has had more training than you. He loses it, starts on you and you stopped him without throwing a punch ~and~ survived an encounter with Master Erikus?” Valor questioned stroking his short beard.

“I mean, essentially that’s what happened, yeah” Cole said reluctantly summarising all the events.

“…. HIGH FIVE!!!!” Valor exclaimed holding out his hand, massive grin slapped across his face.

“VALOR!!” Prite reprimanded.

“WHAT?! He took my training to heart! Ryker is bigger than Cole, yet won by not charging in headfirst, using what he could to come out on top. As a ‘Jedi Master’,” Valor shook his hands in the air almost mocking the title.

“Yes, I should be ripping into him for fighting, but as HIS TRAINER, I’m SO. DAMN. PROUD!”

Prite was already rubbing her temple while Cole confusedly went for the high five and Amelia giggled while absolutely gobsmacked at the outcome.

“Y’know, you’re probably not the best in deciding what’s to happen here.”

“Relax, I’ll drill into him this shouldn’t happen.”

“Yeah, being face to face with Master Erikus already conveyed that message” Cole chimed in, staring at the floor wide-eyed.

“See? He’s had enough trauma for one day” Valor laughed, patting Cole on the back.

“I have a feeling the two of you will be the death of me” Prite commented, very tired with conversing with her life-long friend.

Valor and Prite continued to bicker about what the ‘appropriate’ reaction should be, while Cole and Amelia went to get ready for the night.

“Hey, uh you didn’t have to do that. In the cafeteria, I appreciate it. Thank you” Cole admitted solemnly.

“Aw dude, anytime – he deserved that. We haven’t known each other long but I got you.”

“Thanks, I haven’t had a lot of people stand up for me before like that. Anything you want, anything you need – I’m there for you now.”

“Same to you” Amelia smiled gleefully.

They sealed their pact with a fist bump and knew they had each other’s back from that day on.


	2. Trial by Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The main two are a little older now, about 15/16. I admittedly know little about the process of actually making the lightsabers other than the fact of going to Ilum to get their kyber crystals - so I decided to fast forward that a bit. As always, writing is very new to me so ideas, constructive criticism etc are more than welcome. Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it was really spaced out from my last post, life (and also a bit of writers block) finally caught up with me - I have no guaranteed timeline for when each chapter will be posted or when it'll finish, i'm just kinda along for the ride.

“ _Hey, have you finished your new saber yet?”_ Cole sent to Amelia, looking at his own finished product.

_“Oh hey, uh yeah I just finished it actually, show and tell in my room or yours?”_

Amelia’s door flew open with Cole waltzing in like a puppy meeting new guests.

“Lemme see! Lemme see!”

“MOTHER-! Don’t scare me like that! Dick!” a very unexpectant Amelia exclaimed.

Cole tried hard to hide his laughter, “Sorry, didn’t mean to” putting up one of his hands in surrender, keeping the other behind his back.

“Y’know what? No, you scared me, you’re going first” Amelia stood up, hiding what she had on the table now behind her.

“Yeah ok, fair, fine.” Cole revealed the items he was hiding, two lightsaber handles, identical in design.

Igniting them, the room filled with light. Of two different colours – purple and blue, with the blue saber being a bit shorter on length than the purple.

Amelia’s face lit up in a similar fashion. “AHH! AMAZING!” hastily grabbing her own saber, which had two handles but at the bottom they were connected – forming a ‘U’ shape with the connecting piece being thinner than the girth of the handles.

Igniting her saber, purple and green light erupted in the room, helping Cole connect the dots in why she was more excited than expected.

“Yoo we both got purple!” Cole beamed.

“How cool is it?!”

“Very, but what’s with the thing at the bottom?”

“Let me show you” a smirk grew across Amelia’s face. After pressing a button, one of the blades swung down changing the dual bladed lightsaber into a staff configuration.

“OH. See this is why you’re the smart one, you do cool shit like this” Cole explained, shutting his own lightsabers off and investigating Amelia’s.

“Give yourself some credit, you figured out to not make the blades on yours the same size for more mobility, right?”

“Yeah, first time to make it too, so I guess you got a point. This is still super cool though” gesturing to his friends’ new saber, shutting it off and handing back to her.

 _“Guys meet us in the hanger, we got a new assignment”_ they both heard Valor in their minds.

 _“Sure, be there in a sec._ Looks like we might get to test them out _.”_

\--------------------------------------

Amelia and Cole strode up to their masters, eager for their new mission.

“What are we up to?” Amelia asked.

“We’re going to the planet Dri’Thuul to ensure the safety of its king until he can get off planet” Prite responded.

“The reason we’re going to help the king’s guard is because we’ve had reports of a Dark Side user operating in that area and we suspect there may be an attempt on his life.”

“Why would Sith want to kill him?”

“Firstly, he’s pledged allegiance to The Order, Secondly, there’s potential there is a Sith spy in their royal court who could try to take over if the king falls. They’re handling that investigation on their own so we’re on guard duty.”

“Fair enough, we’re good to go when you are Masters” Cole said.

“We’re gunna have to be more careful on this one Cole,” Valor chimed in. “For all we know we could be dealing with one of the more powerful Sith Lords, so if we say, ‘get out’ you run – understand?”

“Yes Master” he sighed.

The four of them boarded their ship and headed off towards their mission.

\----------------------------------------------------

After an uneventful trip, the group jumped out of hyper-space and saw their destination.

“Dri’Thuul is really brown, is it mostly desert?” inquired Amelia.

“Nah, it’s just Dry fool” Cole said without hesitation.

All three of the others slowly looked at him and the big gleeful smile slapped across his face.

After taking two seconds to regather her braincells, Amelia smacked Cole’s forehead with the back of her hand.

“Thank you” the masters said in unison.

“Worth it” Cole stated big smile still on his face.

As they entered the atmosphere, they immediately got a frantic transmission.

“HEY! Are you the Jedi? **TSSRRK** -tting attacked by- **TSSRRK** – eed someone down here no- **TSSRRK”** They heard nothing after that.

“We gotta move. NOW” Prite demanded

“Way ahead of ya” Valor said as he put the ship at full speed towards the outpost they were heading to.

They quickly approached the rendezvous point and saw columns of smoke rising from different parts of the outpost which was a transmission tower surrounded by small buildings.

“You three get down there and I’ll find a spot to hide the ship” Valor ordered.

“You heard him, lets get to the back of the ship” Prite told the Padawans.

Cole was already opening the back door knowing they would be jumping out.

“Ready when you are Master” Cole yelled as the engines and wind roared into the ship.

The girls joined Cole at the back of the ship as Valor lowered it closer to the ground – but still a good 150 metres up.

As they approached the site Cole noticed Amelia seemed a little unconfident about what she had to do next.

“Hey” Cole said calmly as he placed both hands on the sides of her head making her look at him and not the land rushing by.

“You got this ok? I know we’re high up, but we know how to land safely – you’ll be ok yeah?”

“Yeah, I know, it’s not the height freaking me out. It’s just y’know, we’re jumping out of a very fast-moving ship.” Amelia admitted.

“Look that’s fair, you trust me?”

“Yeah of course but I still don’t like where this is going”

“Just follow my lead” Cole started to walk backwards, keeping eye-contact with his friend, arms slightly open.

He got to the edge, smiled and just leaned back, falling out of the ship.

“He’s growing on me” Prite chuckled.

Amelia breathed in deeply and breathed out.

“Yeah me too.” Amelia burst into a full sprint towards the opening and jumped, Prite following right behind.

As Cole was falling, he saw his friends following behind and thought to himself and Amelia.

“ _I’m gunna be honest I didn’t think that was gunna work.”_

 _“Someone has to make sure you don’t get yourself killed”_ She retorted.

As they got closer to the ground, they used The Force to soften their fall, landing near the transmission tower where most of the commotion was coming from.

They dashed towards the entrance and saw battle droids fighting with some of the local guards.

Cole being the one who jumped out first, was closer and brandished his new lightsabers, cutting through two unsuspecting droids to the left of the entrance, spinning around and threw one of his weapons through the others, controlling its trajectory with the Force - destroying the remaining four droids.

“You were really keen to use your new sabers weren’t you?” Prite inquired.

“Sure am” Cole said as he caught his weapon.

Similarly built like humans, except Dri’Thuulians had green skin and a short elephant like snout protruding from their face.

One of the guards spoke up,

“Thank you for coming so quickly, our king is at the top of the tower but there is a woman trying to kill him with a similar weapon to yours. You must go now, we’ll stop more from coming in.”

The trio went into the tower and started their ascent while the guards fortified the entrance.

Cole started to rush up the stairs approaching the second floor when Ameila sensed something. In a momentary panic she darted up to Cole’s side, now igniting her lightsaber.

“COLE WAIT!”

As they reached the floor there were about 10 droids waiting in ambush, all opening fire on the two Padawans – luckily Amelia was more prepared for it than Cole so she was able to deflect the hail of blasters headed their way.

“Like I said, someone needs to make sure you don’t die” Amelia remarked while spinning her lightsaber.

Prite lifted the droids into the air, causing them to stop shooting, allowing Amelia to ‘grab’ their lower halves and the two tore them all apart in one fluid motion.

“Right. Fair point. Thank you. I’m sorry. I owe you one… Looove you.” Cole innocently smiled.

“Yeah, yeah, love you too. Dumbass.” Amelia couldn’t help but chuckle. At least she knew he was aware.

“Let’s keep moving guys” Prite said with a smile on her face knowing that he’d pay for it later and impressed with her own Padawan.

Continuing on in the tower, Prite let Cole and Amelia take somewhat of a lead on dealing with the droids. She stepped in when necessary (and to keep herself on edge) but she mainly kept an eye on how the Padawans worked together in combat with their new weapons.

Some of their techniques could use some work sure, but sometimes it was almost as if they were sharing the one mind – predicting where the other would be and adjusting their attacks for it, either flipping over one another, boosting the other up, setting up an enemy for the other to take down or even breaking the flow of their attacks as to not put each other in harm’s way.

It reminded her of herself and Valor if she was being honest. While Prite was usually of the calm-mild mannered sort, she wasn’t sure how she felt about her title with Valor at the temple sparring room could be in danger in a few years’ time.

As they got higher in the floors – 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th. The group were noticing more scorch marks. Some, near local guards they were too late to save.

If the Sith lord wasn’t at the top, they definitely came through.

The further up they went the more difficult it became; the droids were getting more advanced and had heavier artillery the closer they got so they were protecting something or someone – if not just buying time.

The droidekas on the 8th floor were a new challenge for the Padawans. They were able to push them around, but the shields prevented them from tearing the droid itself apart.

“Y’know as much fun as it is to pinball these things around – they’re actually starting to annoy me now” Cole growled deflecting the blaster shots.

“Yeah, I know gimme a sec to think… we can’t just throw them out of the tower-“ Amelia started to ponder before being cut off by Cole

“HEY that’s an idea I like that!”

“WITHOUT causing more damage to the building, there’s no big holes or windows big enough.”

“Ugh fair point, what if one of us keeps them distracted and someone gets behind them?”

“That could work-“

Amelia and Cole were startled by the flash of yellow as Prite overheard their plan and dashed over to the droids and leaped over them swinging her lightsaber through the top of the shields into the droid’s heads.

“You had a good plan, just need to act quicker” Prite smirked

Cole turned off his lightsabers and leaned on a nearby wall.

“I’m kinda hoping this Sith Lord isn’t up there, I’m starting to wear out a little.”

“Tends to happen when you go all out so early” Amelia noted trying to hide her own lack of breath.

“You mean like you, using the Force so much?” Cole smiled cheekily.

“…Yeop...” Amelia broke her restraint on her laugh.

“This may be the only breather you’ll get today, there’s one more floor then the top. We need to be careful guys ok?”

“Yes Master” The Padawans said in unison.

The group took a minute to formulate the plan if there was a Sith lord and headed up the flight of stairs.

They approached the next floor cautiously to see no droids.

There were none in hiding, just a lot of scorch marks in the room, indicating a lightsaber was used recklessly and the occasional droid in pieces, along with some Dri’Thuulian corpses.

“Well, looks like we do have a Sith on our hands” Cole said solemnly.

“Every word I say, both of you listen to it, am I understood?” Prite ordered.

“Yes master.” The Padawans replied, hearing the tense nature of Prite coming out.

They approached the next level met by a metal door blocking the way.

With the lock melted shut.

“Ok, Cole you cut the lock, Amelia – when he’s done you push the door out of the way and I'll be ready for anything that tries to jump at us.”

“Yes Master.”

Cole made quick work of the lock, dragging his sabers through the metal with his weight, the second he finished Amelia launched the door open and Prite stepped forward ready for whatever possible ambush was awaiting them.

Fortunately, there was no prepared ambush. The room was large and metallic, with multiple screens and radios at the other side of the mostly open room.

However, the king did have a red lightsaber pointed at his chin which quickly drew attention.

“YOU!” Both Prite and the Sith figure hissed at each other.

A tall and thin pale-skinned woman stood in the centre of the room, black dreadlocks tumbling down past her shoulders, with some in front of her face. Black symmetrical markings angled down her brow, leading to go over her eyes in two separate points at her prominent cheekbones.

Her dark loose pants and wraps around her chest bloodstained from her previous victims – some seemingly have been stained for years adding to the inky colour.

She immediately force pushed the king to a wall and entrapped him, folding the nearby metal around him, and rushed towards Prite.

Prite brandished her saber and blocked the wild overhead swing from the woman.

The red and yellow sabers crackled against each other as the two locked eyes.

“You’re not getting away from me this time _Jedi”_ Simply saying that word seemed to repulse her, growling at Prite.

“Funny, that’s not quite how I remember our last encounter” Prite responded, showing frustration for the first time that Amelia or Cole had seen.

The Sith woman roared as she pushed down her weapon and spun the hilt towards her enemy, igniting the other side of her lightsaber which erupted to life.

Prite pushed her away narrowly causing her to miss but the Jedi didn’t seem to flinch.

“Check on the king and get him out, I’ll distract the psychopath.” Prite ordered without breaking eye contact with this wild looking woman.

Considering the steel in her voice, the Padawans did not hesitate and darted over to the king.

“Ahh, I see you brought me some new targets!” The woman called out running towards the Padawans.

She was abruptly stopped by a powerful push into the far wall. She expected Prite to jump in the way, being caught off guard.

“Your fights with me Destra. Or do you need to kill some Padawans to boost your ego because you can’t handle a fully trained Jedi?” Prite goaded.

The Sith looked up at Prite with a burning rage, and their battle continued.

The Padawans quickly freed the king, checking him over for any injuries.

“Thank you, young ones but I am physically fine, we must leave however for I am not sure how long that will last.” The king hastily spoke.

“That’s good to hear, we’ll get you out as quick as possible” Cole reassured while Amelia reached out to the closest guards on the lower floor.

The three of them started making their way out of the room when they heard the shrieking of Destra.

“I’M NOT DONE WITH HIM YET!!”

She threw Prite across the room and leaped towards the king, Amelia slowed her down, pushing against her but she kept coming – lifting her saber up to smite down the Padawan, Cole jumped in with his own sabers stopping any harm from coming to either of them.

The two of them holding Destra there gave Prite enough time to gain her ground and throw her back to the other side of the room.

“You’re NOT touching them Destra.” Prite demanded.

The Padawans gained more ground towards the exit with the opportunity their master gave them.

Destra growled as she crashed near the large screens, tearing out one of them to throw at Prite. Followed by multiple more, tearing a hole from the wall behind them into the open air, Prite deflected them as they came at her but as the last one came she didn’t see the lightsaber that Destra had thrown until the last possible second.

She managed to block it enough to not cause serious harm but lost grip of her lightsaber.

Destra was mere metres away from Prite as the Padawans turned to see what was happening as they handed the king over to the guards who had met them at the stairs.

“MASTER!” Amelia screamed as she saw Destra grab her own saber and lunge at a near-defenceless Prite.

A crackling erupted as another saber blocked the deadly attack. Red and orange light now filling the room.

“Hello Valor” Destra Smiled, recognising the dual baton lightsabers before being able to see his face. “I was wondering when you’d show up” meeting his steely gaze, still having hatred in her voice, but now had a flirtatious undertone.

“Ugh, of course it had to be you didn’t it?” Valor grunted.

Prite brought her lightsaber back to her and swung at the Sith Lord, using her momentary distraction to her advantage, causing her to yelp and jump a few metres back.

“You all good?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, nice timing but how’d you get in here?”

“The big hole in the wall kinda helped if I’m being honest”

“Such a _daring_ Jedi you are” Destra shrilled. “Running up tall buildings, are we? How heroic” The last two words falling flat in tone.

“You don’t really understand how creepy you are do you? The sooner you’re in a cell the better” Valor snarled.

“You’ll be by my side soon enough and I can’t _wait_ to have you” Destra chuckled maliciously.

“Gross.” Prite threw some of the nearby debris at her, putting a stop to the conversation.

The Jedi rushed towards her, but she kept her distance jumping away and pushing them back.

“It seems like I wont be able to get what I want today and seeing how you’ve ruined all the droids I came here with…” Destra grumbled eyeing off the Padawans who were also about to join the fight.

“I’ll have to wait until next time” She backed up to the hole in the wall she ripped out earlier. “Ta-ta for now” she smiled and jumped out.

The four of them approached the opening and as they had expected, she was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey masters, quick question-“ Amelia carefully inquired

“What in the sithing hells was that thing?” Cole concluded oh so bluntly.

“A Sith Lord named Destra, Prite and I have run into her a few times.”

“She seems to have a soft spot for you Master Valor” Amelia innocently poked.

Valor took a deep sigh.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“We’ll discuss Valor’s stalker later, lets finish our business with the king and report back to the council.” Prite said, now calmer than she was before.

\------------------------------------------

The four concluded their business, arranging the safe envoy for the king who was immensely grateful and went back to their council, reporting that the Sith are in fact working within the region. The meeting finished and the Padawans were returning to their rooms.

“Well that was an interesting day” Cole commented.

“Yeah, definitely was. I need a breather.”

“Think we’ll get to their stage one day? Having a Sith that has a vendetta against us?”

“Absolutely, but preferably not one that’s as psychotic?”

“Yeah look that’s ideal but I guess we’ll see eventually right? As for now, movies and snacks?”

“Oof, I like your plan.”

“I gotcha” Cole chuckled.

“‘til the end of the road…’”

“May it be half as long…”

“And twice as bright” Amelia concluded, both of them having smiles on their faces as they walked the rest of the way to their evening.


End file.
